A contractor at the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) was found to have used a computer at the agency to edit political commentator Raphael Lin’s (林秉樞) Chinese-language Wikipedia entry, the highway authority said yesterday.
Lin has been accused of physically abusing his ex-girlfriend Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜), among other offenses.
Following the allegations of domestic violence, he was also accused of recruiting Internet users to sway public opinion on the case in his favor.
An Internet user on Dec. 5 found that Lin’s Wikipedia entry had been edited on Dec. 2 from the IP address 117.56.178.41, which belongs to the highway authority.
The agency initially denied that its IP address connected to Wikipedia on Dec. 2. Following an expanded investigation, it said on Dec. 7 that an employee had accessed Wikipedia a few times on Dec. 2, but the content on those pages was related to civil engineering.
The agency yesterday said that an internal investigation, which was concluded last week, found that three of its computers were used to access Wikipedia. Two were used to view content irrelevant to the domestic abuse case at 8:42pm on Dec. 2, and the third one had Wikipedia in the browsing history on Dec. 6, it said.
“We took the third computer to the Investigation Bureau for further examination by cybersecurity specialists. Their report confirmed that the computer was used to edit the Wikipedia entry on Lin on December 2,” the agency said.
The person who edited Lin’s information is a contractor in their 20s, the agency said.
The contractor told DGH officials that they did this out of curiosity, and apologized for causing confusion and besmirching the agency’s reputation, it added.
The contractor is in charge of promoting transportation safety in Matsu (Lienchiang County) at the motor vehicle office there and did not have behavioral issues, DGH Director-General Hsu Cheng-chang (許鉦漳) told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting at the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday.
“The contractor voluntarily went to the police on Dec. 5 and explained what happened as they were afraid of facing criminal charges. They did not tell their supervisors until after the police on Dec. 15 assured them that no criminal charges would be brought against them,” Hsu said.
However, the contractor would be subject to punishment by the Taipei Motor Vehicle Office, he added.
In other news, motorists who are fined for not having liability insurance for their vehicles would be offered insurance information when they receive official notice from the bureau, starting March next year.
The insurance information would be printed on a blank page of the official notice, the bureau said.
Of the 5 million traffic tickets given out each year, 200,000 are issued because motorists lack mandatory vehicle liability insurance, bureau data showed.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS